Drip, drip, drippity-drip…drip, drip, drippity-drip… drip, drip, drippity-PLOOSH!

Two, abnormally large eyes bulged as something wrapped around the owner's middle. The creature struggled in vain, but it was no use, for soon it could no longer breathe, and soon after even that...

Ckrsshk!

It was no more.

"Ooo, itses a big one, my preciousss! Good eatsies, good eatsies… heeheehegh…" A wretched sounding voice spoke, coming from an even more wretched looking creature. It had been the thing that wrapped around the creature with the large eyes… said creature's remains either in the speaker's mouth, or gripped within the speaker's gruesome, webbed, clawed, wrinkly, awful hands. By the looks of it, the remains had once been a fish of some kind, though a horridly deformed one at that. Not that the thing that caught it cared—they all tasted the same to him.

Disgusting slurping noises came from the speaker who grabbed the fish, along with a hair-raising, hissing, growling, gurgle. By the time he—it—had finished, nothing was left of the onetime fish.

"Mmmm… it was goodsies, it was, my precioussss! Yesss, yesss… gollum!" It made that… noise again on the final 'word', giggling hysterically to itself. Then, suddenly, it went silent. "Mmm? Goblinses, my precioussss? But it doesn't smellsies like one, heghh…."

I couldn't tell you what he smelled, as I do not know what Hobbits smell like, and that is exactly what he smelled. Shortly after, he heard the Hobbit when it splashed into the water, and the creature giggled to itself. "Clumsies, clumsies…"

Creeping back onto shore from the small boat it had been perched in, the creature (we shall call it Gollum for sake of time) cautiously crept forward, ducking soundlessly behind a rock outcropping, pale eyes peeking out to stare at the Hobbit he had smelled, heard, and now saw.

The Hobbit was a small thing, as is common among their people. Gollum duly noticed this, noting to himself, "Mmm… Clumsies looks funnies… So small, my precioussss… not enough meatsies to fill usss, my precioussss…" It trailed off, lamp-like eyes still trained on the Hobbit.

For your convenience, I shall go into greater detail of what the Hobbit looked like. The Hobbit was a small creature. Most were perhaps half the height of a full grown male human, if lucky enough; or, perhaps unlucky, depending on your point of view. The only other notable difference from you or I he had would be the absurdly large, hairy feet he sported, another common trait among Hobbits.

This particular Hobbit wore a long, burgundy cloak tattered at the edges. Underneath he wore a dirtied white shirt with a charming, forest green vest, little gold buttons adorning it. Brown slacks loosely hugged his pale legs, barely reaching past his knees. A surprisingly large rucksack for the petite individual hung from his back, disturbingly close to being empty. Dark green eyes blinked repeatedly, trying to cut through the insistent darkness surrounding the area he was currently trapped in; a darkness Gollum had grown so used to he hardly even noticed anymore. Finally, to complete the picture, a tuft of wild, curly brown hair crowned the top of his head.

I should hope that description will suffice. Now, it is time to get back to the story at hand.

The Hobbit had by now sat down and was staring out over the lake, completely oblivious to Gollum. He, the Hobbit, was exhausted and altogether flummoxed. It did not at all help that his poor head was beginning to ache again from that nasty whack he had taken earlier… oh? You wish to know what I am talking about? Tsk, tsk, now that's another story all together! All you need to know is that he was hardly in the shape for a fight and that he was lost in the tunnels Gollum called home. Speaking of Gollum, it is about time I returned the story to him.

Gollum, seeing the Hobbit sit down upon the bank, swiftly returned to his boat, paddling through the lake around his small island without so much as a ripple. It didn't take long for it to reach the shore and took even less time for it to creep out and around to where the Hobbit was.

"Bless usss and splash usss, my precioussss! I guess it's a choice feast; at least a tasty morsel it'd make us, gollum!"

The poor Hobbit had no idea what was coming when Gollum made himself known, his harsh voice hissing through the still air from directly beside the Hobbit! In fact, the poor thing nearly jumped right out of his skin, yet none-the-less managed to hold his ground, actually revealing a dagger and brandishing it at Gollum with a valiant "Who are you?"

The Hobbit was obviously terrified.

Gollum's pale eyes stared at the pointy stick for a moment before flicking back to the strange newcomer. A whisper escaped Gollum as he asked himself, "What isss he, my precioussss?" Gollum always spoke to itself, simply because it had no one else to speak to.

Gollum, the taste of the fish still in its mouth, looked at the Hobbit with what appeared to be curiosity. Gollum was not hungry; otherwise Gollum wouldn't have whispered and would have snatched the Hobbit instead.

"I am Mr. Bilbo Baggins," said the Hobbit. "I have lost the dwarves and I have lost the wizard and I don't know where I am; and I don't want to know, if only I can get away."

Gollum did not know what a 'dwarves' and a 'wizard' was, nor what he was talking about, and so quietly asked itself,"A Bagginses? What isss a… Bagginses? Sssss…"

It then asked aloud another question, gaze returning to the dagger as it did so. "What's he got in his handses?" Gollum did not like that pointy stick at all and liked it less when Mr. Bilbo Baggins responded.

"A sword, a blade which came out of Gondolin!"

And Gollum, deciding it wished for company more than it wished for food (at the moment), became polite towards the Hobbit, fearful of the blade from Gondolin. "'Prapsss ye sits here and chats with it a bitsy, my precioussss. It likes riddles, 'prapsss it does, doesss it?"

Gollum, despite its wretched appearance and manners, was a playful soul at heart. Or more so that it was desperate for company. Being in the dark as long as it has, it is simply no surprise. I know I would personally go mad upon enduring that! Thus, wanting to know more about this Hobbit, the sword, whether he was truly alone, whether he was good to eat, and whether Gollum was hungry or not, a game of riddles was what the creature thought of. Gollum had played riddles with its old friends long, long ago. It had been the only game it knew to play with those funny creatures that it came upon occasionally, but that was before Gollum had lost all friends and had been driven away to creep down, down, down under the deep, deep, deep mountains, all alone for who knows how long with only the drip, drip, drip to keep it company.

And so, Bilbo agreed, he too wanting to know more about this ghastly creature before him, whether it was alone, whether it was fierce or hungry, and whether it was a friend of the goblins, "Very well. You ask first."

Gollum grinned, replying immediately.

What has roots as nobody sees,

Is taller than trees,

Up, up it goes,

And yet never grows?

And thus began a fierce battle of wits unlike any other you have likely read; a battle where Bilbo's life and freedom were at stake alongside Gollum's latest snack and an unknown treasure. Both were brought to the limit, stress clouding judgment. It was only by pure luck (which Mr. Baggins seemed to have an unlimited supply of) that Bilbo answered one or two of the riddles while an impressive memory was Gollum's saving grace. This deadly game went on for some time until; finally, a bit of cheating gave Bilbo the win.

Mr. Baggins' question was the following:

What have I got in my pocket?

Now, if that isn't unfair I don't know what is! Regardless, Gollum eventually settled to answer at the condition it receive three chances at guessing. Three guesses weren't enough for the creature.

"Handses!"

"No, terribly sorry. Guess again?" The Hobbit was not sorry, actually grateful as he had just taken his hands out of his pockets.

Gnashing its teeth together, Gollum tried again. "A… A… sssss….!" Thinking of what Gollum hid in its own pockets, it eventually blurted, "Knife!"

"Wrong! Last try!"

Gollum had come to its greatest challenge yet from the game and was left in quite a state! It hissed and spluttered and rocked itself backwards and forward. It slapped its webbed feet against the floor and wriggled and squirmed, but did not dare risk its final guess.

"Come on! I am waiting!" Bilbo brashly proclaimed, the frantic Gollum not responding. After a minute or so, Bilbo finally snapped. "Time's up!"

A screech left Gollum's throat, it scrambling to its hands and knees, shrieking out his final guess, even if it did guess twice at this point, "String or nothing!"

"Both wrong!" The relief in the Hobbit's voice was evident. Still, Gollum sat shivering and chattering.

Bilbo, confident now, but still wary of the being, went on to demand Gollum keep its promise to lead Bilbo out of the cave.

If only Bilbo knew not everything was as honest as he himself was.

Gollum, coming up with another little scheme, scrambled back into its little boat and paddled right back to its little island, searching for what, the Hobbit didn't know.

Returning to the island, Gollum, with surprising cheer, clambered over rocks, heading for its camp on the island. It murmured to itself as it did so, saying, "My birthday-present! That'ss what we wantss now, yesss; we wantss it!"

Before I get too deep into the tale I shall end this little story with just what was in Bilbo's pocket… What lay in the confines of his breaches was actually a small ring he had picked up on the way here, a small ring that was far bigger than it seemed, holding unimaginable power. A ring, one ring, to rule them all… A ring that happened to originally belong to Gollum.

Bilbo received his second great fright that day/night when Gollum let out a horrid, painful, excruciating screech, lamenting the loss of said ring.

There is no need to go into great detail and spoil it all for you on just what Gollum's lost birthday-present was along with what it could do. Simply that this one thing, this one ring, abruptly changed the course of history the moment Bilbo picked it up…

And Gollum was devastated.

Author's Note:

I wrote this piece not to long ago as an assignment for school. It's hardly my pride and joy when it comes to writing, but I still think it's worth posting. Hope you guys enjoy~! :D